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Jindal to GOP: Don't be 'the stupid party'

Jindal on oil spill anniversary, recovery

But political observers who’ve watched Jindal up close for years say it’s become increasingly fuzzy where his governing ends and his presidential ambitions begin — whether the 41-year-old policy wonk’s plans are aimed at Louisiana’s problems or future GOP voters in Iowa and New Hampshire.

“You don’t get any argument from anybody down here that Jindal’s running for president — it’s just an accepted fact, like the sun rising in the East,” said Bob Mann, who was an aide to former Democratic Gov. Kathleen Blanco and former Sen. John Breaux and is now a professor at Louisiana State University. “There’s an overriding sense among insiders here … that most of the higher-profile initiatives that he’s embarking on here are all with the national audience in mind.”

Jindal’s bold policy proposals in Louisiana come at the same time he’s raising his profile nationally, both through his new post as head of the Republican Governors Association and his frequent commentary on the future of the Republican Party. He turned heads last month when he warned the GOP needs to “stop being the stupid party.”

After first getting elected in 2007, Jindal kept his policy agenda relatively tame: His hallmark first-term accomplishments were an ethics reform package and a workforce development program. Both were big parts of his campaign platform and enjoyed wide support in the Legislature.

But after being reelected with two-thirds of the vote, Jindal has been bolder about proposing larger-scale legislation, much of which has drawn national attention.

“He stayed away from anything controversial or confrontational” in his first term, said independent Louisiana-based journalist John Maginnis, who called Jindal “risk-averse” during those years. “Really in this last year, the first year of his second term, is the best window he has to really get some things changed.”

His education reform plans last year, which drastically expanded the state’s voucher system and reformed the teacher tenure process, established Jindal as a national leader on the issue. This year, Jindal made news with his rejection of the Medicaid expansion in the national health care law.

And in perhaps his boldest proposal yet, Jindal announced he wants to eliminate the state income tax. The details of the plan, which will be taken up by the Louisiana Legislature this spring, haven’t been announced yet.

“By any objective measure, Gov. Jindal has set the standard for policy accomplishments from the perspective of a forward-thinking conservative,” said Phil Musser, a former executive director of the RGA.

But many in the state see Jindal’s decisions — particularly his tax plan but also his decision to reject the Medicaid expansion, which would provide health coverage for hundreds of thousands of poor residents — as being driven by 2016.